Reddit (RDDT) filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic, accusing the Claude chatbot developer of unlawfully training its models on Reddit users’ personal data without a license.

Shares of Reddit surged close to 7% Wednesda𝔍y following the complaint, and have climbed about 28% so far in 2025.

The comp🔯laint, fi💛led in California Wednesday, accuses Anthropic of scraping Reddit’s servers more than 100,000 times despite claiming to have blocked its bots from doing so in July 2024.

At issue is Reddit’s user agreement, which bars companies from “commercially exploit[ing]” users’ data without a formal deal with the company. ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Alphabet's (GOOGL) ꦫGoogle have both agreed to terms with the company to license Reddit data, for example. Reddit’s user agreement includes certain privacy measures, including requiring companies to remove users’ deleted posts from their training systems. 

Reddit's complaint seeks compensatory damages for the value of the content it says Anthropic used to train its models. It also requested an injunction requiring Anthropic to remove "any technology derived from Reddit content," potentially including the Claude chatbot.

An Anthropic spokesperson told Investopedia, “We disagree with Reddit's claims and will defend ourselves vigorously."